I'm just hoping that something shows up. The only idea I have left after this test is to have his eyes checked somewhere, but I'm pretty sure that this vet will just flick his hand at the eye and say, "Well, he blinks!"

I can only please one person per day. Today is not your day, tomorrow doesn't look good either.
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"You didn't know of the magical powers of the break stick? It's up there with genies and Harry Potter as far as magic levels go." SisMorphine 01/07/07

Not to date. The only time he ever worried me was when he was really not feeling well and lethargic and I would talk to him and he would just *stare* at me, unmoving. Wouldn't even wag his tail. That was the day after he went after my boyfriend of two years. But otherwise, I've never been bothered.

I do have a trainer friend that has urged me to be careful regardless, she's seen him in action.

Kathy Cascade will be here at 9 AM Sunday morning to have a training session with Toby and me. Allen is will also be coming over so she can walk us through steps to having Toby around Allen again. And quite frankly, if anything does go south, I'd like someone with more experienced eyes outside of the situation to analyze it. Hopefully it goes okay.

Tubular Toby wrote:Kathy Cascade will be here at 9 AM Sunday morning to have a training session with Toby and me. Allen is will also be coming over so she can walk us through steps to having Toby around Allen again. And quite frankly, if anything does go south, I'd like someone with more experienced eyes outside of the situation to analyze it. Hopefully it goes okay.

Sounds like an absolutely wonderful idea! You might ask her about eyesight issues too...

Good luck!

"I don't have any idea if my dogs respect me or not, but they're greedy and I have their stuff." -- Patty Ruzzo

"Dogs don't want to control people. They want to control their own lives." --John Bradshaw

Bah. Even after all of these normal tests, Toby still has days where he is not very active, sleeps a lot, and also just lays down staring at the room. If I talk to him, he looks at me, but won't wag his tail like he usually does. Never has a fever, never has anything wonky on his test results, but just still isn't... right 100% of the time.

Is there any way you can get someone at the vet school to just give you an idea of things to check out?

Good thought, I guess at the very least I could call them up and see if they have any thoughts. Unfortunately, I can't take Toby there as they don't accept Care Credit.

With all his recent life changes, couldn't Toby just be bored.

This actually isn't too far from my line of thinking before I moved. He slept a lot then too, more than he used to, and I assumed it was because he was bored and lacking stimulation. When we moved, I started daily walks, enrichment activities, training, and what not and it wasn't until a couple of weeks later that he got super lethargic, shallow breathing, quit eating. After switching back to Blue Buffalo, he started eating again, and some days is normal Toby but other days, like today, seems he hardly has any interest in anything.

Did any of the veterinarians mention testing for addison's or cushing's disease? You can run an ACTH test for it.

No one mentioned it, I'll look into it. Thanks!

Also just because Erin mentioned eyes, did the veterinarians look at his eyes at his last two exams?

I am pretty sure aside from confirming that my dog does indeed have sight, there's not much that can be done at this office. But it's something that I am still working on.

Also just because Erin mentioned eyes, did the veterinarians look at his eyes at his last two exams?

I am pretty sure aside from confirming that my dog does indeed have sight, there's not much that can be done at this office. But it's something that I am still working on.

Did they not actually use a light to look into them? Dude, my place of business must totally rock because when we do exams we always use a scope with a light to look into the eyes. Even for just a general exam.

Kathy Cascade came over this morning to meet Allen and me and work with Toby again. They stayed outside and I went to get Toby and we went out. Did the same thing as we did before, lots of approaching (no eye contact or touching), treating, and retreating. Eventually we moved up to walking together, clickering for different commands. Allen isn't entirely comfortable, but he is willing to try with us and push past his discomfort when working with Toby. Kathy stressed to Allen that he doesn't need to feel like he has to pet Toby or anything, we simply need to work on being in the same space. As their trust grows, they can move on in time. She said every time Allen comes over to work on this, outside, to establish their relationship, and then when we move inside and don't want the focus to be on Toby, to put him in his crate with a frozen kong/etc and then Allen can relax too. I'm also going to be using a body wrap to start getting him to associate that with being calm.

I think my biggest lesson of the day was to know when Toby was done and to let him be done. That night when he started getting anxious, I should have just walked him home and driven back over if I wanted to hang out more. Today Toby clearly let us know when he was tired/overwhelmed because he started getting a little crazy hyper, leash chewing (a dead give away for him) and listening less.

It was very helpful and as long as I can get Toby and Allen comfortable around each other over the next 10 months, we'll be doing well.

In not so great news... in August Kathy Cascade is moving out of state. =( Toby and I will be going back to her house to work on his dog reactivity again a couple of times before then, for sure!

It was a really great session, even though it was pretty much a repeat of my first one with her, this time with Allen thrown in. She was able to really explain things to him (and me!) that set both of us at ease a little bit. It was nice to have a professional there instead of me trying to tell Allen what to do and manage Toby. I'm definitely glad we waited to have another meeting for her to assist. I think it helped both of us relax a lot more than we would have trying it without her.